Unfortunately the opening guest speaker on Friday 20th July – George Hardie – isn’t going to be able to join us after all, so zine and comic creator Holly Casio (originally scheduled to talk later in the day) is now going to open the conference with a discussion of her own practice making pamphlets about Bruce Springsteen, as well as a more general discussion about the music zine scene.
Holly has created a number of titles including Me and Bruce, Taking up space, Cool Schmool, Bite Me: A Buffy the Vampire Slayer Zine, My Mad Fat Zine, UK Zine Librarians, BruXcore, I love Food Network and Dancing in the dark. She was also in the band The Potentials – a Buffy the Vampire Slayer themed group – so will also be talking about the crossover between music, comics and Buffy fandom…

Cover of Dancing in the Dark zine by Holly Casio (art by Adrian Tomine)

The programme for this year’s Graphic Brighton is below. The two day event is FREE, but it would be great if anyone wanting to come along could book a ticket in advance, so we can get an idea of numbers, or if we run out of tickets can let people know that the venue(s) have reached capacity.

Also, we’re proud to have a classic 80s comic book artist – as featured in Trident, Wimmen’s Comix, Revolver, Escape and Deadline – Julie Hollings joining us as a guest on July 20th, in conversation with Alex Fitch and Hunt Emerson (when she’ll be able to reminisce with Hunt about working on Outrageous Tales from the Old Testament).

Accessibility: the Phoenix Gallery’s Green Room is on the ground floor which is fully accessible. There is a ramp at the main entrance and disabled toilets on the same floor.
19.00 – Doors open
19.15 – 20.00 – Music and comics panel with Mark Buckingham, Danny Noble, and Will Potter
20.10 – 20.30 – Musical performance by Mark Buckingham and Chris Harrison, performing tracks from their album Jigsaw Man
20.40 – 22.30 – Night of the Living Dead: Reanimated – the classic 1968 zombie movie reinterpreted by 100 artists with a new live soundtrack DJ-ed by Robin the Fog

Friday 20th July 9.15-18.00
University of Sussex, Pevensey Building 1, Lecture Theatre 1A6, Falmer BN1 9QH.
The University of Sussex campus is easily accessed by train from Brighton (journey time approx. 7 minutes) or by the number 25 bus (also from Brighton).

Accessibility: Pevensey 1 Lecture Theatre 1A6 is wheelchair accessible: please go through the glass doors at the front of the building, and use the elevator, selecting ‘1A6’ button option. Wheelchair accessible toilets are in Chichester 1 building next door – please do let us know if you need any extra assistance on the day.

9.15 – doors open and registration (note, please bring your own tea or coffee, available from multiple outlets on the University of Sussex campus)

9.45-10.30 – George Hardie (Hipgnosis), will be talking about using comics and sequential art in his design work, and discussing the process of designing covers for Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin

10.30-10.50 – tea and coffee (provided)

10.50-12.10 – Panel 1: Visualising sound and musical identities
Chair: Barbara Chamberlin
Peter Hodges (University of South Wales): The Last Temptation: A consideration of the role of sound in comic books
James Sayers (University of Brighton): How sound manifests itself and creates meaning in musical biography, Nick Cave: Mercy on Me
Justin Wadlow (Université de Picardie Jules Verne): Garageland – Punk heroes portrayed in London, New York and Paris: inventing a visual identity for oneself

12.15-13.00 – The Surreal McCoy and David Bramwell discuss the multimedia presentation of comics with musical accompaniment

13.00-13.40 – Lunch (provided, though people with specific dietary requirements are advised to bring their own lunch in case these are not catered for – vegetarian and vegan possibilities will be available)

The programme for Graphic Brighton is coming together with talks by Mark Hibbert (University of the Arts, London) and Alan Moore expert Maggie Grey (Kingston University) to look forward to on July 20th. Also, the legendary artist of Fables, Peter Parker: Spider-Man and Neil Gaiman’s Death, Mark Buckingham is joining the line up on July 19th to talk about his interest in music and comics, plus he will also be performing a short set accompanied by Chris Harrison, showcasing tracks from his album Jigsawman.

The poster for the event by the excellent Knockabout artist Hunt Emerson is available to view and print out now…

…and to aid late running academics who have yet to submit a paper for the academic day at the University of Sussex, the Call for Papers has been extended until Friday July 15th!

This year’s Graphic Brighton festival is headlined from 7pm on Thursday 19th July at The Phoenix, Brighton, by members of the bands Cud (Will Potter), The Meow Meows (Danny Noble) and Howlround (Robin the Fog) who will be talking about their crossover interest in music and comics before a screening of Night of the Living Dead: Reanimated – the classic 1968 zombie movie reinterpreted by 100 artists with a new live soundtrack DJed by Robin the Fog.

Panel from Cud: Rich and Strange by Carl Puttnam, Will Potter (script) and Philip Bond (art)

On Friday 20th July there will be a full day of talks by comic creators – including Hunt Emerson and The Surreal McCoy – and academics on the theme of music and comics at the University of Sussex (Falmer). Also, George Hardie (Hipgnosis), will be talking about designing album covers for Pink Floyd and Led Zepplin and using comics in his design work…

This year’s Graphic Brighton is on the subject of Music and Comics and is being held in Brighton on July 19th, and at the University of Sussex (Falmer) on July 20th – as with previous events it will mix academic presentations with talks by comic book creators; see full ‘Call for papers’ below…

Call for Papers

Music and comics have had a connection right from the start, with the title of the seminal newspaper strip Hogan’s Alley taken from a popular song by Edward Harrigan. As the 20th Century progressed these two media flirted with each other for inspiration and style, from Marvel comics based on the rock band KISS, to Duran Duran taking their name from Barbarella. Back room printing presses in the 60s and 70s saw the gig flyer and alternative comix emerge side by side, and comic creators from Alan Moore to Richard McGuire have been inspired by music in the creation of their long (play) narratives.

Graphic Brighton 2018 explores the rich and diverse inter-relationship between comics and music. As an event which aims to be interdisciplinary, we invite speakers and contributors from academic and creator-based backgrounds in comics, visual cultures and music so as to open discussion across the disciplines. We invite 20-minute papers themed around, but not limited to, the following:

Graphic Brighton is curated by Barbara Chamberlin, Alex Fitch and Elle Whitcroft, with support from Aanchal Vij.

This free event will be held at the University of Sussex on Friday July 20th, with talks by artists Hunt Emerson, The Surreal McCoy and George Hardie (Hipgnosis), plus a comic book creators’ discussion and multimedia DJ gig in the centre of Brighton (venue and time TBC) on the evening of July 19th featuring members of The Meow Meows, Cud and Howlround.

7.45pm Exhibition launch for the ‘Art of Snub 23’, featuring a DJ set by DJ Food

Saturday Dec 2nd:

Mapping Your Own World @ Phoenix Brighton
11 am – 1 pm and 2 – 4 pm, free drop-in
Creative sessions for all the family with Phoenix artists including Ottilie Hainsworth. Enjoy exploring and making together. Children 3 – 14 years old must be accompanied by a parent or carer.

Maps & Lives exhibition celebration day @ Phoenix Brighton
2 – 8 pm in the gallery and at Phoenix Community Centre
Join us for a celebration of the Maps & Lives exhibition, a ‘rear view’ instead of a ‘private view’ and a last chance to contribute artwork to the community project.

The next main Graphic Brighton Festival has been moved to 2018 due to unforeseen circumstances, but in the meantime a related comics event is taking place on December 1st 2017 at Phoenix Brighton, featuring panel discussions, ‘Lightning Talk’ presentations and a stall selling small press comics.

With only ten days to go, don’t forget to buy your ticket for Graphic Brighton 2016!

This year’s Graphic Brighton festival and conference is taking place at the University of Brighton City Campus on 9th and 10th December, with the theme of war comics and graphic novels about wartime resistance. Guests talking about their work include Dave McKean, Bryan and Mary Talbot, Kate Evans, Ben Dickson, plus the editors and the creators of “Brighton’s Graphic War” and many more.

On Friday 9th December there is an academic conference in the University’s building on Edward Street, with talks by Irish cartoonist Fionnula Doran, broadcast journalist Alex Fitch, and Justin Wadlow, curator of the French comics festival Les Rendez-vous de la Bande Dessinée d’Amiens.

Friday evening and all day Saturday are public events; and on the Saturday in the University Main Building on Grand Parade, these include a Manga workshop run by Inko and Chie Kutsawada, a discussion of New Internationalist’s comic book anthologies, Bryan Talbot, Jaime Huxtable and Chris Geary exploring how they make their comics, and an ‘on stage’ interview with Dave McKean about his latest book Black Dog – the Dreams of Paul Nash.

The event coincides with a Pop-up Makers’ fair on both days in the main building, so there is also an opportunity to pick up stocking fillers!

Tickets are priced between £5 and £20 for a ticket to all of the public events, and from £30 to £60 to include the additional academic strand; available from the University of Brighton online shop.